WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. - The Stony Brook University men's basketball team fell, 84-61, to Monmouth on Saturday afternoon at OceanFirst Bank Center. Three Seawolves finished in double figures, but it was not enough to overcome the Hawks strong second-half performance.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Stony Brook fell behind 13-7 early on, but battled back to grab a one-point lead after a 7-0 run spearheaded by Keenan Fitzmorris. After Monmouth evened things up at 16 apiece, the Hawks scored eight straight points to open up a 24-16 lead. Another eight-point scoring run to close the half helped Monmouth take an eight-point lead into the break.
The Hawks opened the second half by scoring the first 10 points and 24 of the half's first 30 points to jump out to a 26-point advantage. The Seawolves never truly trimmed the deficit much further, pulling within 20 points of the Hawks momentarily before eventually falling, 84-61.
STATS AND NOTES
- Tyler Stephenson-Moore scored a team-high 16 points, tallying 14 of his 16 points in the second half. Stephenson-Moore added five rebounds and two assists.
- Fitzmorris finished with 13 points, shooting 5-of-11 from the field. He was a perfect 3-for-3 at the charity stripe; Fitzmorris has now connected on 15 straight free throws and 29 of his last 31 at the free throw line.
- Aaron Clarke chipped in with 11 points, contributing five assists and three rebounds. Clarke has handed out at least five assists in four consecutive contests.
- Andre Snoddy grabbed 12 rebounds for the second straight game. Snoddy's seven double-digit rebounding performances lead the team this season.
- As a team, Stony Brook shot 4-of-22 (18.2%) from three-point range.
- Monmouth won the rebounding battle, 46-33, and outscored Stony Brook 36-24 in paint points.
- The Seawolves were outscored 47-32 in the second half, shooting 9-29 from the field and 2-13 from beyond the arc.
- Stony Brook moves to 3-2 all-time against Monmouth, splitting the season series with the Hawks. The last two matchups have been won by the home team after the visitors had won the first three meetings.
QUOTES FROM THE SEAWOLVES
"Monmouth physically dominated us today, particularly on the glass. We were fortunate enough to catch them on a day where Xander Rice was off, but we weren't in position to win due to an inability to deal with their fours and fives on the glass," head coach Geno Ford said. "Our perimeter guys collectively couldn't make any shots, so it was a formula for a convincing loss."
UP NEXT
Stony Brook returns home to host North Carolina A&T on Thursday, February 22. The Seawolves and Aggies tip-off at 6:31 p.m., with the contest streaming live on SNY and Flo Hoops.
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